bounded on to
a rock and aimed a thrust at Mrs. Belmont, but before the point could
reach her the Colonel leaned forward with his pistol and blew the man's
head in. Yet with a concentrated rage, which was superior even to the
agony of death, the fellow lay kicking and striking, bounding about
among the loose stones like a fish upon the shingle.

[Illustration: The Colonel leaned forward with his pistol p247]

"Don't be frightened, ladies," cried the Colonel. "He is quite dead, I
assure you. I am so sorry to have done this in your presence, but the
fellow was dangerous. I had a little score of my own to settle with him,
for he was the man who tried to break my ribs with his Remington. I hope
you are not hurt, Miss Adams! One instant, and I will come down to you."

But the old Boston lady was by no means hurt, for the rocks had been so
high that she had a very short distance to fall from her saddle. Sadie,
Mrs. Belmont, and Colonel Cochrane had all descended by slipping on to
the boulders and climbing down from them. But they found Miss Adams on
her feet, and waving the remains of her green veil in triumph.

"Hurrah, Sadie! Hurrah, my own darling Sadie!" she was shrieking. "We
are saved, my girl, we are saved after all."

"By George, so we are!" cried the Colonel, and they all shouted in an
ecstasy together.

But Sadie had learned to think more about others during those terrible
days of schooling. Her arms were round Mrs. Belmont, and her cheek
against hers.

"You dear, sweet angel," she cried, "how can we have the heart to be
glad when you--when you----"

"But I don't believe it is so," cried the brave Irishwoman. "No, I'll
never believe it until I see John's body lying before me. And when I see
that, I don't want to live to see anything more."

The last Dervish had clattered down the khor, and now above them on
either cliff they could see the Egyptians--tall, thin, square-shouldered
figures, looking, when outlined against the blue sky, wonderfully
like the warriors in the ancient bas-reliefs. Their camels were in the
background, and they were hurrying to join them. At the same time others
began to ride down from the farther end of the ravine, their dark
faces flushed and their eyes shining with the excitement of victory and
pursuit. A very small Englishman, with a straw-coloured moustache and a
weary manner, was riding at the head of them. He halted his camel beside
the fugitives and saluted the ladies. He wore brown boots and brown
belts with steel buckles, which looked trim and workmanlike against his
kharki uniform.

"Had 'em that time--had 'em proper!" said he. "Very glad to have been of
any assistance, I'm Shaw. Hope you're none the worse for it all. What I
mean, it's rather rough work for ladies."

"You're from Haifa, I suppose?" asked the Colonel.

"No, we're from the other show. We're the Sarras crowd, you know. We met
in the desert, and we headed 'em off, and the other Johnnies headed
them behind. We've got 'em on toast, I tell you. Get up on that rock and
you'll see things happen. It's going to be a knockout in one round this
time."

"We left some of our people at the wells. We are very uneasy about
them," said the Colonel. "I suppose you have not heard anything of
them?"

The young officer looked serious and shook his head. "Bad job that!"
said he. "They're a poisonous crowd when you put 'em in a corner. What
I mean, we never expected to see you alive; and we're very glad to pull
any of you out of the fire. The most we hoped was that we might revenge
you."

"Any other Englishman with you?" "Archer is with the flanking party.
He'll have to come past, for I don't think there is any other way
down. We've got one of your chaps up there--a funny old bird with a
red topknot. See you later, I hope! Good day, ladies!" He touched his
helmet, tapped his camel, and trotted on after his men.